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They are more communicative and lively than the American Indians, and it is therefore more agreeable to live with them. In moral character they are far superior to either Malays or Chinese, for though head-taking has been a custom among them it is only as a trophy of war. In their own villages crimes are very rare.
After the head-taking the body was set up two days under the dwelling of the dead man, and was then carried to the mountain side in the direction of Kambulo, the pueblo which killed the man. It was tied on a war shield and the whole tied to a pole which was borne by two men, as is shown in Pl.
A second plausible view of the origin of head-taking is that it arose out of the custom of slaying slaves on the death of a chief, in order that they might accompany and serve him on his journey to the other world. We have pointed out several reasons for believing that this practice was formerly general, and that it has fallen into desuetude, but is hardly yet quite extinct.
It is doubtful what the word Singalang means, but Burong means "bird," and probably Singalang Burong means "Bird Chief." Singalang Burong is also the god of war, and the guardian spirit of brave men. He delights in fighting, and head-taking is his glory. When Dyaks have obtained a human head, they make a great feast to the honour of this god and invoke his presence.
F. F. McDougall in her statement of a Sakaran legend of the origin of head-taking to the effect that the daughter of their great ancestor residing near the Evening Star "refused to marry until her betrothed brought her a present worth her acceptance."
The special characteristics and religious aspects of these different feasts must now be noticed. Feasts connected with Head-taking. All these are given in honour of Singalang Burong, who is the ruler of the spirit-world, and the god of war. These feasts are not held as frequently as those connected with farming, but when any of them take place, a great deal is made of the event.
It may not always have been so and there may be and probably is the natural blood-thirstiness of the animal in man to account for a great deal of the head-taking. He quotes Mrs.
Whatever the cause of taking the head may have been with the first people, it would surely spread to others of a similar culture who warred with a head-taking tribe, as they would wish to appear as cruel, fierce, and courageous as the enemy. Henry Ling Roth quotes Sir Spencer St. It is merely to show their bravery and manliness, that it may be said that so-and-so has obtained heads.
The Chinese are generally considered, and with some truth, to be thieves, liars, and careless of human life, and these Chinese are coolies of the very lowest and least educated class. The Malays are invariably characterised as treacherous and bloodthirsty, and the Dyaks have only recently ceased to think head-taking an absolute necessity.
Still another had actually succeeded in persuading nature to form a socket of gristle just in front of each ear, the socket being in relief and carrying a bunch of feathers. A few men had even painted their faces scarlet or yellow. The pigment or color comes from a wild berry. Importance of Bontok. Head-taking. Atonement for bloodshed. Sports. Slapping game.
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